Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer is a winner. Winners demand excellence, and there was nothing excellent about what happened to the Clippers this past season when they again failed to get past the Western Conference semifinals, this time losing a 3-1 series lead to the Houston Rockets.

Now that third-year coach and president of basketball operations Doc Rivers has assembled a roster that on paper seems the best in franchise history, it stands to reason Ballmer and the NBA world as a whole will be expecting more of Rivers and his charges. Perhaps much more.

Rivers became a bit combative recently when asked about shouldering that kind of burden, which is enhanced when considering the Clippers’ $98 million payroll is well over the $70 million cap.

“You do what you do, I don’t know about that pressure stuff,” Rivers said. “I don’t think there is any different pressure than there was last year for us, to be honest. I have the same feeling going into this year.”

Rivers was reminded he added a lot of solid players. Still, he scoffed.

“Should more be expected of San Antonio, Golden State, Houston, because they’ve all added players?” he said. “So my point is, that’s for all you guys to write and talk about. But we’ve added great players and our intentions are exactly the same as last year and that’s to win it.”

Among the key players the Clippers added are Paul Pierce, Lance Stephenson, Josh Smith and Wesley Johnson. Although it’s not yet official, Stephenson could be the starter at small forward, with the other three helping make up what could be a terrific bench if it jells. Also on that bench will be the rapidly improving Austin Rivers and Jamal Crawford, the two-time Sixth Man of the Year.

Pierce has brought with him a championship ring he attained in 2008 while playing for Rivers in Boston. Point guard Chris Paul has not come close to winning a ring in 10 years in the league, the past four with the Clippers.

Paul was asked how he plans on dealing with what figures to be the highest expectations ever for a franchise that has yet to get to a conference finals in 44 seasons.

“I don’t know, they’ve done said that every year,” he said. “Every year, after how we finished the year before, they say they expect this. So I think it’s not about what everybody expects from us, but what we expect from ourselves.”

Paul was pushed.

“I don’t even know what everyone’s expectations are,” he said. “I think for me and our team now, I think it’s just about the singular focus, it’s about us guys in the locker room never getting too high or never getting too low or worrying about any of that because we’ve gotta take it one day at a time.”

The big four on this team is the same from last year — Paul, shooting guard J.J. Redick, power forward Blake Griffin and center DeAndre Jordan, who re-signed with the Clippers after nearly leaving for the Dallas Mavericks.

If Stephenson becomes the fifth starter, that would mean the second team would consist of guards Rivers and Crawford and forwards Smith, Johnson and Pierce. Smith would play center on defense.

Not only does Pierce bring with him world-title experience, Smith has been as far as the conference finals this past season with Houston. Certainly, he showed the Clippers would he could do during the conference semifinals.

A couple of other players who could make contributions are forward Luc Mbah a Moute on defense and guard Pablo Prigioni, who also played for Houston in 2014-15.

As for the Clippers’ competition in the Western Conference, at the top is defending champion Golden State Warriors. San Antonio now has forward LaMarcus Aldridge and Houston, though it lost Smith, now has point guard Ty Lawson.

Oklahoma City brings superstars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook as well as first-year coach Billy Donovan. That’s not to mention Memphis, which has arguably the best center in the game in Marc Gasol.

It’s a lot to absorb.

But pressure? Forget about it. As much as Doc Rivers hates the word, his son despises it even more.

“I don’t like the word ‘pressure,’” Austin Rivers said. “That’s for (pansies), in my opinion, man. How can I feel pressure if I’m a pro? You just go out there and play.

“If it doesn’t work out, keep your head up, keep getting better. We’ve been working so hard, we’ve got Hall of Fame players here to teach us and get us better. You go out there and play basketball. That’s what I’ve been doing my whole life. This is what Josh has been doing, Paul has been doing.”

He was somewhat disgusted.

“There is no such thing as pressure,” he said. “You just play. At the end of the day, whether I make or miss a shot, I’m still going to wake up with my girlfriend and my Pops and my family. It don’t matter, so I don’t focus on none of that stuff, man. I just play basketball.”

As does Pierce, who has been for the past 17 years in this league. He has become known among his peers as “The Truth.” He may be 38, but he can still play. With his tenacity, know-how and overall presence, he could be crucial for this team.

He showed just how big in Thursday’s preseason finale, when the Clippers came from 35 down to beat Portland 115-109. Pierce scored 14 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, at one point making three consecutive 3-pointers.

“It was good for it to be the last game of the preseason and finally going into the regular season, you know, a vote of confidence,” he said. “Not only for me, for a number of guys. Now, there are no excuses.

“We know what we’re capable of. We saw something, regardless of whether it was preseason or not, a certain characteristic in this ballclub that we have in us. We were down 35. So whenever we get down through the year, I’m going to go back and refer to this game. The game is never over. The guys have to realize that.”

Perhaps that was the problem in Game 6 against Houston in May. The Clippers thought it was over, and the Rockets came back and got them.

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